Includes bibliographical references (p. [213]-243) and index.

Losing our past : Jerusalem, Israel -- Our future : Mumbai, India -- We are not alone : Borneo, Southeast Asia -- What are we doing? : Linfen City, China -- Distant consequences : Shishmaref Village, Alaska -- Nature's oxygen factory : the Amazon jungle -- The reality of our actions : the Fresh Kills Landfill, New York -- Where the currents take our trash : the Eastern Garbage Patch, Pacific Ocean -- The greatest problem no one has heard about : the Great Lakes, Duluth, Minnesota -- Where to spread your wings : home, Santa Monica, California.

Author Kostigen reveals the vital missing link in today's environmental crisis: how we as individuals are connected to the endangered zones of the planet. Despite the recent prominence of "green" issues in the news, the direct relationship between our actions and the earth is too often ignored. But the seemingly insignificant things we do every day have the power to literally alter the landscape in the ongoing battle to resuscitate the planet. Kostigen shows us what may well be a glimpse of our future in Linfen City, China, one of the most polluted places on the planet. From a garbage patch twice the size of Texas in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, to the melting Arctic ice cap, to the flood zone that is Mumbai, India, to the dwindling rainforests of the Amazon, he describes the environmental crisis in a way we can feel, see, and touch.--From publisher description.